Our final UKWA Warehousing Roadshow of the year, held in Scotland last month, covered a wide variety of topics, including a report from Colliers on the property market, with a particular focus on Edinburgh and Glasgow. There was a lively discussion on IT and the future of warehousing, and safety in the warehouse – how best to protect your physical assets and guard against cyber crime, as well as an insight into modern slavery in UK warehousing.
The latter made for sobering listening. While we’re all aware of the scourge of people trafficking and modern slavery, Hannah Newcomb, Co-CEO of Stronger Together, confirmed the extent of the problem and the reason why the warehousing sector is an easy target for criminal gangs.
The UK government estimates that over 100,000 people are in modern slavery in this country, while Unseen 2022 reported an increase of 134% in labour exploitation in 2022 compared to 2021.
So why is warehousing particularly vulnerable to forced labour? There are several reasons, but prime amongst them is that supply chains are complex and fragmented, with intense seasonal peaks that require a significant increase in temporary or short term labour. Often warehouse operators turn to agencies to supply such workers and trust that these agencies have taken the necessary precautions and checks. However, the evidence is that criminal gangs target agencies – or even pose as agencies – to provide access to much needed labour at a time when even off-peak recruitment is a challenge. Other factors highlighted by Hannah were lone working, the physical environment, and the lack of formal grievance mechanisms in some warehouse operations.
The Government’s Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority has reported that potential victims are often Eastern European, male and aged between 20-25 years old, brought to the UK by agencies and individuals (sometimes current and former employees), who arrange transportation, accommodation and employment (usually casual or zero hour contracts) for an exorbitant fee.
We are proud of our sector and to hear that warehousing is a target for such crime is distressing. It is therefore vital that those responsible for recruitment are aware of the potential for modern slavery to inveigle its way into a business, and that senior managers recognise the signs of forced labour and know how to tackle it, if and when uncovered.
Any incident or even suspicion should be reported to the Modern Slavery helpline (0800 0121 700). But guarding against it is better still. Support is available from organisations like Stronger Together, who offer interactive training workshops for Warehouse Managers and Supervisors, and provide free resources such as a downloadable Toolkit and a Good Practice Checklist specifically produced for the UK warehousing sector.
We can tackle and stamp out labour exploitation in UK warehousing by being vigilant, sharing best practice and by upholding the standards we espouse at UKWA and across the wider industry. Find out more at www.stronger2gether.org
Clare Bottle
UKWA, CEO
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